Two Circles & READY team up to spotlight trailblazing innovators in women’s sport

Marking this year’s International Women’s Day theme on innovation and technology for gender equality, Two Circles and READY hosted a networking evening in London that gave the stage to trailblazing women innovating in Web 3.0 technology and sport.

2023’s International Women’s Day celebrates DigitALL: innovation and technology for gender equality. It highlights the importance of addressing socioeconomic divides due to the digital gender gap, an issue that is also accentuated in the sports industry where just 3% of sports tech leaders are women and where the investment in emerging technologies, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence, are largely limited to men’s sport.

The event brought together 70 leaders and disrupters from across the sports industry to share and learn about the opportunities and challenges in the next phase of innovation.

The panel included:

• Clare Vigers, Client Services Director at Two Circles, the global sports marketing agency that grows the value of sports, powered by data, from commercial revenue and sponsorship to best-in-class content and proprietary technology solutions
• Lucy Mills, Founder of READY, a start-up that aims to address the digital gender divide in sport and get women’s sport ready for the future via education and consulting on innovation and technology.
• Tracey Bowen, Founder of H.E.R. DAO, a decentralised organisation comprising women, transwomen and non-binary people committed to increasing diversity and inclusion in Web 3.0.
• Roisín Cregan, Senior Commercial Solicitor at Onside Law with a focus on data and technology in sport.
• Preeti Shetty, Advisor at READY and CEO of Upshot, a tech-based social enterprise that supports non-profits to monitor and evidence their impact work.

Preeti Shetty moderated a rich conversation, kicked off by Tracey Bowen from H.E.R. DAO, who offered her views on the Web 3.0 ecosystem and the specific opportunity for women and marginalised groups, before Lucy Mills shared examples of the current use of Web 3.0 technology in sport. These included the creation of new revenue opportunities, fan-centric experiences, and ownership structures, as well as her optimism for several well-executed Web 3.0 projects by women’s sports clubs and collectives, as well as female athletes, such as Team GB triple jumper, Naomi Metzger and NASCAR racing driver, Julie Landauer.

READY founder, Lucy Mills, reflected: “Web 3.0 is often cited as the “permissionless internet”. We have a huge opportunity ahead of us to create – and thrive in – sport that is better for everyone. But that needs everyone to be included. Innovation and community are in the DNA of women’s sport which makes it an exciting time for us all to learn and build together in this changing cultural and technological landscape.”

Roisín Cregan, who has advised a range of Web 3.0 projects in sport with Onside Law, highlighted legal and regulatory issues, the importance of due diligence and staying up-to-date on the rapidly changing Web 3.0 landscape. Clare Vigers encouraged women’s sports organisations to build towards a long-term, fan-centric growth strategy, but also to embrace the unique opportunity.
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Vigers explained: “Women’s sport does not have the same legacy structure that established men’s sport has. But it also doesn’t have the hang ups and the challenges that tradition brings with it, so there is free space to move into; to challenge how the nuts and bolts of the sport and organisation works. Being open to innovating rather than replicating an existing structure by default is what makes the work that we do an incredibly exciting space to be in, at a time brimming with potential.”

Two Circles also runs Diversity in Sports, a mentoring programme designed to accelerate the growth of under-represented talent in the sports industry. Now in its fourth year, the programme has supported over 50 people in the early stages of their career through bespoke mentoring, knowledge sharing and network support. Applications for 2023 close on Monday 13^th March, find out more here.

About READY 

As a response to addressing the digital gender gap in sport, Lucy Mills and Preeti Shetty launched READY last year with the aim to ignite learning and curiosity among women’s sport professionals and organisations about innovation, technology, and Web 3.0. They believe that nether sport nor technology has woken up to the true market opportunity nor full inclusion of women, and an important reason for this is a lack of inclusive education. Lucy, Preeti and their team, therefore, set out to deliver educational courses, workshops, and events with women – and people in women’s sport – in welcoming, informal, and positive learning environments.

Since launching in June 2022, READY has produced an introductory course on Web 3.0 and Sport, facilitated 10 workshops in 5 countries with 800+ people, and grown its readership of the READY Read newsletter, the only dedicated source for Web 3.0 and women’s sport. Building on the initial interest and momentum, in early 2023 READY launched its consultancy and advisory services specialising in innovation and technology to supercharge women’s sport. READY is proud to have a roster of young female talent, just one of the ways that its business ethos strives to promote the IWD theme of digitALL.

For more information about READY – check out www.readysport.xyz and subscribe to the READY Read, a dedicated source on Web 3.0 and Women’s Sport.